LV= makes substantial changes to critical illness cover

What's new?

• Enhanced comprehensive cover and support for cancer includes new payment at diagnosis 
• Wider coverage for children as standard now up to age 23 and new ’Junior option’
• Extended and simplified enhanced payments, now including  enhanced organ benefit and double payouts up to an additional £200,000

LV= has made substantial changes to its Life and Critical Illness insurance to provide greater coverage for families. 

LV= now covers a total of 87 conditions and the number of full payment conditions

Including brain injury due to trauma, anoxia or hypoxia, Crohn’s disease, severe mental health and severe sepsis - increased from 44 to 49. 

For cancer, the most claimed for condition, LV= has introduced a new £1,000 payment for policyholders, or any child covered by the policy, if they are diagnosed with one of the listed cancer conditions and evidence of diagnosis is provided. The payment would be made before a claim is fully reviewed by an assessor, would not reduce the amount of cover and is designed to help with additional costs of being diagnosed with cancer. 

Cover is now available up to a 50-year term up to age 80 (for level and decreasing cover) and improvements include simplifying the amount paid for enhanced payments to pay twice the amount of cover up to an additional £200,000, increasing the age of diagnosis to 55 for neurological enhanced payment conditions, and introducing three organ-related enhanced payments – major organ transplant, liver failure and severe lung disease.

Extended children’s cover is standard and features include:

• From birth and extended to age 23 (with no requirement to be in full time education) for 85 conditions and no minimum survival period
• Pays out 50% of main policy cover, up to £25,000 per policy plus enhanced payments for 13 conditions through either accident or organ-related payments (up to £50,000).
• New £5,000 child’s funeral payment and new ‘junior option’, allowing a child to take out their own CI cover within six months of their 23rd birthday without medical underwriting. 
• Confidential member helpline for older children (and parents) to support them through challenging times, providing valuable day-to-day mental health support to dependants from age 16.

Earlier in January 2020 LV= announced it is working with Maggie’s, a charity offering emotional and practical support for people living with cancer and their family and friends.

 

Debbie Kennedy, Director of Protection at LV=, said: “We consulted widely when developing our new critical illness policy and many of the enhancements followed suggestions from financial advisers. As a result, I believe we now offer unrivalled comprehensive all-round support for advisers’ clients and their families.

“Critical illnesses such as cancer, heart attack or a stroke can have a devastating financial and emotional impact. One in two people are likely to get cancer during their life and, following diagnosis, encounter a wide range of challenges as well as financial problems. 

“Our cancer diagnosis payment can ease the financial worries and through our expert partners, including second opinion and our working relationship with Maggie’s, we can offer the reassuring practical and caring support for the family. “We’ve taken a long hard look at our critical illness policy to make sure it can really protect modern families – including more conditions, children’s cover to age 23, access to emotional health support for young adults and our junior option – which allows adult children to easily secure valuable protection for themselves.”